1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a network call parking service and, more particularly, to a network call parking service in a multi-server communication network which allows call parking and retrieval of any call connected to any server in the network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that modern telephone services are able to provide a wide variety of convenience features or supplementary services to enhance calling convenience. For example, call parking is a particular supplementary service often used by callers. Known call parking services provide the call recipient the ability to park, i.e., place on hold, the caller at a particular extension. This is accomplished, generally, by the called party dialling an access code or depressing a park key, followed by the local number of the park destination. The parked call may then be retrieved locally by the answering party by dialling an access code or depressing a park answer key followed by the local number of the park destination at which the caller is parked.
In known private/public telecommunications network/exchange (PTN/PTNX)-based networks and client-server based distributed networks, users are located or reside locally in PTN/servers that are interconnected by high speed and/or high bandwidth networks. Unfortunately, in such known PTN/PTNX based networks, call park and retrieval is implemented only locally within a single PTN/server, and thus calls may not be parked and retrieved by users that are within the network but connected to another server in the network.
For example, in a sales type situation, where multiple servers host multiple users working in a large room with cubicles, a customer may call the company to inquire about a particular product. The caller asks if a red widget is in stock and the sales person sees on the computerized inventory screen that one is left in stock but that no color is indicated. The sales person, before checking the stock room, parks the call to a phone that is located in the stock room. The sales person""s phone and the stock room phone are hosted by different servers. Upon reaching the stock room and seeing that the widget is green, the sales person picks up the stock room phone and depresses the park retrieval key, and is again talking with the parked caller. In known call park services, the sales person would be unable to park the call to the remote phone (i.e., physical or phantom/logical device) in a manner that would allow the sales person to pick up the call in the stock room, since the remote phone would be attached to a different remote server and would not have access to the server where the call was parked.
Therefore, what is needed is a system for enabling call park and retrieve from anywhere within a multi-server network regardless of which server the call parking and retrieving user may be connected.
Briefly, the present invention relates to a service and apparatus for enabling supplementary service functions, such as call parking, to be implemented in a communications network having more than one server. The multi-server call parking system is adapted to enable call parking and retrieval from anywhere within the network, including calls parked on a different server within the multi-server network. The call parking system includes an (optional) invite request unit for invoking the call parking service. A call park request unit establishes a connection to a call park destination for enabling the call to be parked at the selected call park destination. The destination is generally a user selectable parking location located anywhere within the network. A retrieval request unit, for performing park retrieval functions, connects a retrieving user with the parked call. Upon successful retrieval, the parked party and the retrieving party are connected in a two-party connection. Optionally, an exception handler may be provided to handle problems that may potentially arise during the call parking procedure. Either user in the call may park the other user as long as that user is a subscriber of the network park service.